A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys, I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Chapter Four - When to Fight
"Check!" Linka crowed, moving her queen into place.
Mal grinned, his green face glowing brighter with simulated excitement. "I haven't lost yet Alina."
The program's pincer reached out from his monitor body and moved the black bishop to intercept, putting one of the girl's rooks under threat at the same time.
It was their second game that day and though Linka wasn't really a match for the computer's logic, she wasn't making it easy for him either.
"Well played Alina!" Mal exclaimed as the game reached its inevitable conclusion a few moves later.
"I lost." She replied flatly. The Russian girl was not a bad loser she just didn't like accepting praise for what she considered a failure.
Mal shook his digitized head. "It's not about winning, it's about the skill you displayed while you are playing. You are light years ahead of anyone your age, and a lot of adults too, you are… exceptional."
The young girl shrugged. "I still lost."
"Nice to know you're not perfect." A young American voice chimed in huffily, earning a glare from Linka.
Wheeler didn't really mind that she was smarter than him, in fact he was secretly impressed, but he didn't like being made to look bad and it seemed to him that, since she'd started co-operating, the Russian was constantly showing him up.
"Are you ready for your next lesson Munchkin?" Doctor Blight oozed fake affection over her new protégé, making both children feel queasy.
"Yes Doctor." Linka smiled sweetly and moved to the computer console, ignoring Wheeler's cough into his fist 'suck up'.
It annoyed the young girl no end that he would take shots at her, knowing full well why she was playing along, but she'd gotten over her shyness towards him and felt no compunction in answering him back.
"You can talk!" She yelled, turning on him suddenly. "You follow Plunder around like a puppy dog."
"Oh yeah?" He faced up to her, using his greater height to try to intimidate her. "At least I don't dress like him, what's with the pink jumpsuits? You look like a Barbie doll!"
Linka put her hands on her hips, not about to give him an inch and pronouncing her words slowly and carefully. "Doctor Blight had some new clothes made for me, I think they look great!" That last was a lie but she couldn't say anything else in front of the mad scientist.
Linka was amazed at herself, she'd never been able to stand up for herself before, but there was something about Wheeler that made yelling back okay… safe. No matter how many arguments they had, and they seemed to argue about something almost constantly, he didn't hold a grudge. He was never spiteful after one of their fights, in fact, as long she didn't stay angry, he didn't seem bothered by the things she said at all.
One thing both children noticed however, was that their new guardian's seemed to take pleasure in their bickering, as if they didn't really want them to be friends even though they expected them to work together.
Linka's understanding of computers was coming on in leaps and bounds. The information available inside the ships mainframe held the young geek spellbound, it was almost enough to make her want to stay… almost.
"Mal?" She frowned over the data.
"Yes Alina?" He sounded pleased, but then he nearly always did.
Linka pointed at her screen. "It says here that the USSR was dissolved by the end of the twentieth century into it's const… into the countries that make it up."
"That is correct." Mal hovered looking smug, waiting for her to finish her question.
"But the end of the twentieth century has not happened yet." The young blond pointed out. "And my home is still a part of the Soviet Union."
"Also correct." He was obviously enjoying the exchange.
Linka frowned. "So… this is a prediction?"
The computer made a noise that was meant to emulate a wrong answer in a popular quiz show, it meant nothing to Linka but she still got the drift.
"Well what is it then?" She asked impatiently.
"History!" He replied triumphantly. "Or the future, depending on 'when' you're from."
Linka put her hands on her hips and gave the computer screen a look. "Explain!"
"This ship has travelled back in time, fifteen years to be precise."
"That is not possible."
Mal laughed. "You do not know everything yet, Alina Orlova."
Again Linka frowned, wondering if he was making fun of her. "Da, but…"
"There you are, my little blond minion." Blight seemed excited by something. "The supplies I need for my new experiment have arrived, come and help me."
Linka followed the doctor into her lab and exclaimed happily. Running over to one of the cages to lift out the small furry animal it contained, she cradled it in her arms. "Oh! They are beautiful, can we keep them?"
Blight looked slightly perplexed. "While they last… yes."
"While they last?" Linka looked up at her mentor in confusion, the expression in her eyes completely innocent.
It was an expression that didn't last long as the evil doctor blithely explained the tests she planned to run, completely oblivious of the effect it was having on the small girl.
"Nyet." Linka whispered, her voice horse as she struggled to find her courage.
Interrupted mid flow by the softly spoken denial, Blight turned sharply. "What did you say?"
Linka swallowed. "Nyet… you cannot hurt them."
"Don't you tell me what I can do, you little brat!" As she spoke Blights voice turned into a screech, wild with anger that Linka had had the effrontery to contradict her.
It was too much for the timid Russian, her strength against her friend gone in the face of an adult's rage and she fled from the room in tears. She wasn't done though. Frightened though she was, her one thought was to save the rabbits, and her instinct led her straight to Wheeler.
He wasn't hard to find. With Plunder away in Africa, Wheeler had little to do other than sulk over the fact that he hadn't been allowed to go along.
"Jason!" She sobbed, running into his room without knocking and trying not to drop the small bundle she still held. "You have to stop her! Please, she will hurt them, we cannot let her…"
"Whoa! Calm down." The American stood up and rested his hands on his friend's shoulders. "What happened?"
She held up the rabbit to him, gasping out her reply through her tears. "She wants to hurt them… she called it an experiment but… it is torture!"
Wheeler grimaced. "Linka, I know it must seem bad but, sometimes there's no other way, I mean they find all sorts of cures by…"
"Nyet!" The young girl yelled back at him, finding her voice suddenly. "She wants to do it because she enjoys it! She does not want to help anybody! She is cruel and… and evil and… you have to do something! Now!"
"Okay, okay." He wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do but he let Linka drag him back into the lab anyway, not wanting to let her down.
Blight whirled on them as they entered. She had another rabbit in her gloved hands and the sight of it made Linka yelp, though she cowered behind her champion. "What do you want?"
"Erm, Linka wants you to let the rabbits go." He swallowed. "Please?"
The doctor's laugh was chilling but Linka squeezed her friend's hand in a silent appeal and he squared up to the older woman. "You're upsetting Alina. You can do another experiment, one that doesn't involve any animals."
The light in Blight's eyes was positively dangerous and her scar was showing, frightening Linka still further. "Who do you think you are, you miniature eco-brat? I'm in charge here!"
Wheeler swallowed and cast a look at his companion. Her eyes were full of trust and it wrung his heart, as did the soft words she spoke. "It is wrong Jason."
Clearly intimidated by the overbearing doctor, Linka's quiet conviction spoke louder to the young boy than any amount of shouting on the doctor's part. He gave her a small smile and a nod and then turned back to Blight. "Linka says it's wrong, and if she say's it's wrong, then it's wrong. I wont let you do it."
Walking over to the third cage, Wheeler removed its occupant and then walked back to Blight and held out his hand for her last captive.
The children had the advantage of surprise and it made their kidnapper hesitate, and seeing that, Mal chose to step in, speaking in a wheedling tone. "Doctor, perhaps it would be better not to perform this kind of experiment while your student is at such an impressionable age? We do want her to understand the good we can do them after all, don't we Doctor?"
Blight slowly turned to look at her computerized companion, her rage subsiding as quickly as it came. "Whatever. Mal clear this mess up."
She thrust her test subject at Wheeler and stalked from the room, dismissing them all, or so it seemed. Once she was out of earshot she addressed another console, which immediately had Mal's image appear. "Contact Plunder and tell him to come back. We have a problem."
"Yes Doctor."
"And Mal."
"Yes Doctor?"
"Take her side against me again and I'll decompile you."
"Yes Doctor!"
The Wind Planeteer shimmered into transparency, almost disappearing completely before solidifying once more.
"Get out of here!" Mr Wheeler yelled, once the power of speech had returned to him. "We don't want any of your weird-ass Commie mumbo-jumbo around here!"
He yanked his wife roughly into their apartment and slammed the door shut.
Kwame placed a tentative hand on Linka's shoulder, worried that he might pass straight through her. "Are you okay?"
She nodded but said, "I feel a little sick."
The African patted her shoulder. "Take a few moments, and then we had better get moving my friends."
"Where to?" Gi looked frightened and she plainly wasn't thinking clearly.
Kwame smiled. "Russia. Linka is obviously having more success resisting whatever is happening to her than Wheeler did, we need to get to her and help before it is too late."
Linka paled still further, "Can you leave me on Hope Island please?"
"We will need you to translate." Kwame said softly. "I am sorry, I know you do not feel well, just keep thinking about Wheeler."
Linka glared at him, not liking what he was suggesting. "That is not the problem!"
"Then what is?"
She hesitated, hurting anew as she reflected that Wheeler wouldn't have needed to ask. "It does not matter, I will deal with it."
Ma-Ti stepped closer, "Linka, is there some reason that you do not want to talk to your grandmother? Or are you worried about meeting yourself?"
"Nyet not... nyet, it is... my Papa." Tears prickled her eyes. "It is 1983... he is still alive."